Saw blade choices?

[jeepman71]

Thanks Erik. I completely understand the IRS issue, my wife owns a small bussiness.

I think I will bite the bullet and try a 40T WWII. I am not sure I can run a thin kerf on this saw, I think the riving knife might be a little wide. I don't have alot of toy money so I like to spread the wealth as much as possible so the top side of a hundred dollar bill is going to be a splurge for a blade. I might be pleasantly surprised.

Jim

[pelligrini]

The 40T WW-II available in some custom grinds. The #6 grind has a flat raker every 5th tooth and I think the #1 grind are all flat. The #1 has more of a chance for tearout, but it will make really flat bottomed cuts.

[jeepman71]

On the number 6 grind the raker is just slightly lower than the bevel teeth, correct? Which grind is going to give the smoothest face?

Jim

[pelligrini]

Probably going to have to ask Forrest on the first question. The regular grind would give the smoothest faces, except for the bottom which will be slightly v shaped. I don't know how smooth the bottom would be on the #6 or #1. Personally, I wouldn't spend the money for a #1 grind WW-II. There are cheaper options for my rarely needed flat bottom cuts.

I mentioned the other grinds because some places (like woodcraft) carry the #1. I almost picked it up once instead of their regular grind. I meant to get the regular 40T and the guy at the checkout caught that the one I had was their #1 and asked if I really wanted it.

[jeepman71]

Good to know, thanks Erik.

Jim

[LCHIEN]

the standard WWII with the beveled teeth will give the cleanest edge as the bevel scores the top surface of the cut to prevent tearout.

The one with the flat rakers will probably give a totally flat bottom if you use it for making kerf-width grooves and dadoes.

I would think but I'm not an expert, that the clean faces are not so affected by the shape of the tooth grind, but probably more by the stiffness of the blade and dimensional tolerances of the teeth and blade body than anything else. those are quality and design factors that make the WWII so good.

[cwsmith]

I think I've read nothing but good things about the WWII blades, but they are simply way out of my league.

Perhaps if I was building things that I could sell, but I'm not and probably never will be there.

For me, my woodworking is simply a very enjoyable hobby and something of a must as I improve my home and such.

To that end, I want a good blade that doesn't cost me a fortune and is readily available, in case I need to get a replacement quickly.

For me and for my use the Ridgid 50-tooth, TIN-coated carbide blade works very well; and I use them on my BT3100-1, my Craftsman RAS, and even on my Ridgid CMS.

A good feed rate on ripping 1-inch stock with the BT, will give me an edge that is smooth enough to glue, and for cross-cutting on the RAS, a slow pull with be quite nice. But of course, I haven't seen any similar work done with the WWII, so my view may will be ridiculous by comparison.

Ripping bigger stock, I'd probably go with less of a tooth count, but I generally don't have to do much of that. I did make a fairly nice end-table last year from shop remnants, and the legs were 1-1/2 stock cut from an old (no knots) 2 x 4. Very little sanding was required and I fed them carefully using my BT with it's Ridgid 50T blade.

I realize of course that I'm sort of a loner with this particular blade, but thought I would add the opinion none the less.

Thanks,

CWS

[jeepman71]

CWSmith, can you tell me what model blade this is?

I did find CMT blades at Lowes last night for a pretty reasonable price. There was some good things said about these blades as well.

I do plan on trying a WWII blade but have not ordered it yet.

Jim

[Knottscott]

I think the Ridgid that CWSmith mentioned was the R1050C, made by Freud. It's no longer available under the Ridgid name, but the same basic configuration is available from Freud as the Diablo D1050X, and the Industrial LU83R010. Lowes sells a similar 50T ATB/R blade as the CMT ITK Plus P10050. These all happen to be made in Italy, and are fairly standard 50T ATB/R "combination" blades. The "combo" blades aren't necessarily the cleanest cutting of the 40T/50T all purpose blades, but tend to be very good, and are very easy to use, as they're less prone to burning and are a bit less sensitive to setup because they have a more generous side clearance.

[cwsmith]

I didn't realize that blade was no longer available! Are all of these now off the market or just the 50 tooth?

I think I made a mistake though in my post... I'm using the 40-tooth on my BT and on my RAS. I do use a 50-tooth on my CMS, and was remembering only my last purchase which was back in May 2011 when I was trimming the baseboard in the kitchen (red oak) and wanted the bevel crosscuts to be as clean as possible.

I'd really hate to see these blades go as they certainly serve me well, IMO. (Here's a link to the current Ridgid product page, which obviously needs upgrading: http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/Titanium...s/EN/index.htm

These are from Home Depot.

CWS

[Knottscott]

AFAIK the entire Ridgid Titanium line was discontinued, but I'm not certain.